John Walker Lindh presents Enemy Combatant t-shirt to Jake DeSantis of AIG
In a moving ceremony today, John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban" convicted of treason in the wake of the Sept. 11 disaster and resulting war with Afghanistan, handed off the "enemy combatant" t-shirt he has worn for the past eight years to Jake DeSantis, a former employee of AIG Corporation who has refused to return his negotiated compensation, controversially dubbed a "bonus," to American taxpayers, electing to donate the money instead.
"Man, it's weird," opined Lindh in his remarks prior to the presentation. "One day, you're just a feckless kid from Marin County, or an egghead from MIT in Jake's case, out in the world doing what you more or less believe in. The next day history catches up with you and you're in the bright lights with everybody calling you a traitor. I can't say the last eight years have been great for me or that I don't kind of want to scream 'Your turn, asshole!' to Jake. I mean, guys like him are exactly the guys I was trying to fight against. But wearing this Enemy Combatant t-shirt isn't easy, and on a human level I hope he doesn't end up dead or spending 20 years in prison. I'm pretty sure he has more friends in high places than I did, so it doesn't seem likely."
DeSantis, after accepting the Enemy Combatant t-shirt, said only "I bet all you Liberal freaks are thinking 'Hey, what goes around comes around.' I told you I'm giving the money to charity, just like Jesus would have. Now either crucify me or get off my effing back."
No elected officials have yet commented on the event.
handed off
Disappointed second choice Michael Phelps refused to comment upon being passed over, as he was holding his hit.
March 26, 2009 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
:)
March 26, 2009 10:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey JRog. Always nice to know that somebody gets, or at least can riff on, my jokes.
March 26, 2009 10:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
a feckless kid from Marin County
Well, quiet as it is kept, when I look at JWL, there but for fortune...and a few decades, go I.
I was sent by Idries Shah in 1971 to hook up with a Sufi Sheikh in Kandahar--went overland from London to Herat, where my then current wife (#3) got deathly ill, and what with one thing and another, instead of continuing on to Kandahar (our progress having been impeded for several weeks by the flagrant banditry on the road) went *home to take the LSAT.
*Few people can point with such precision to where they went wrong...
April 1, 2009 2:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
That is quite a story, JR. Thanks for sharing it.
"One thing or another" has saved many a soul from the harsh environment of extremism...and booted a few into it as well. I suspect that if JWL had had a month or so to consider his situation, he might have discovered a similar need to go home and take the LSAT.
Or maybe not. In any case, he really was in many ways a victim of scope creep on the Afghanistan job. (I am, as you might suspect, one of those who was perfectly content with considering the attack on the WTC a crime rather than an act of war. A more Interpol, less tank scenario would have been a far more effective choice imho.)
Condolences over the LSAT thing. I was nearly sucked into the tyrannical kingdom of attorneydom myself. Superficiality came to the rescue, though--night before the test I realized that the only reason I wanted to be a lawyer was so I could have a really lovely attache case, with documents inside. Thought about it for a minute or so, then turned off the alarm clock and slept in the following morning. Possibly the only good decision I've ever made.
**
Maybe one day, you'll be able, Irina-like, to sell the house, finish with everything here, and--to Kandahar! (or whatever the new Moscow is by then)
April 3, 2009 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
more Interpol, less tank
Unfortunately, less tank=less fun (at least for the 101st Keyboarders)
Nothing came of "shock and awe" by way of military advantage that could not have been achieved through the simple insertion of money into the existing Northern Alliance vs. Taliban dynamic.
All "shock and awe" was good for was restoring the impaired erectile function of certain high ranking U.S. government officials.
April 3, 2009 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink